Franciscan 67, Penn State New Kensingnton 63

Franciscan Starters
Josh Zimmerman, Travis Lien, Colton Hage, Yann Yonkeu, Benjamin Klement 

Penn St.-New Kensington Starters 
Cunningham, Flanagan, Kojic, Wiles, Feaster II

How It Happened 
    If you heard that a team shot 37% from the field, 16% from 3pt, only forced 11 turnovers, and was 10-16 from the free throw line chances are you weren't betting that team won the game. These numbers alone are an incredible feat to overcome, but to compound the odds the Barons allowed the Lions to shoot 41% from 3pt. The betting man may not of liked the outcome of the game given these stats, but tonight was an old school coaches dream. The defense around the rim was impenetrable throughout the second half. The Barons swarmed the ball in the paint and used their length to alter every Lions shot. This stout rim defense coupled with only 8 turnovers gave the Barons a higher number of possessions, so their bad shooting percentage still gave them enough points to come out with a victory. 
    To start the game, Travis Lien came out of the blocks swinging scoring on the first three Baron' possessions. A layup from Colton Hage followed by two free throws from Lien put the Barons up 11-0 to start the game. Joe Silveira checked into the game and immediately scored on a dump off from Frank Bellisimo. Colton Hage hit another pullup jumper and the Barons had their largest lead of the game of 12. Penn State began switching in and out of a 2-3 zone defense which caused a lot of issues for the Barons offense as they struggled to keep a rhythm. 
    The zone continued to disrupt the Barons in the second half, but Josh Zimmerman and Malachi Rose-Burton wreaked havoc for the Lions. The duo constantly tipped passes and harassed ball-handlers. This lead to many quick offensive transitions that prevented the Lions from sinking into a zone defense. This was the edge the Barons needed to take the lead with 2:45. The Lions hit a couple hard shots to keep the game tied. With 1:30 left, Yann Yonkeu corralled a rebound then found Travis Lien on the outlet. Lien took it all the way to the rim but was fouled. Lien sank both free throws to put the Barons up 2. They held on to that lead for the rest of the game to win 67-63.

Inside the Numbers 
-Travis Lien led all scorers with 21
-The Barons had only 3 players in double digit scoring
-The Barons out rebounded the Lions 47-45
-Josh Zimmerman and Yann Yonkeu each had game-high 8 rebounds
-The Barons had a +5 assist to turnover count

Up Next 
    Franciscan will travel to La Roche on Wednesday to play the Redhawks in a non-conference matchup. The Barons are 9-22 all-time against their former AMCC foe, as they have not played each other since 2020 when it was a conference matchup. In the 2019-20 season, these two teams split with the home team winning each game. In Franciscan's 72-71 win, Travis Lien led the way with 18 points, and Sean Hickey hit the game-winning three pointer with five seconds left to play. This season the Redhawks have started off slow with four straight losses to start the season, but have since bounced back with four wins of their own. They are led by Devon Darell, who is averaging 18.4 ppg thus far this season. 

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